Black Water
by warmfluffypastries
Summary: Another in my series of episodic rewrites where Kate and Tony get married in season 2. TATE


"No, for the twenty third time," Kate heard her husband groan as she rounded the corner out of the elevator carrying a drink tray and a bag of lunches.

"Are you going to answer that?" she asked placing the bag on his desk.

"I'm in hell, Kate," he groaned, as it rang again.

"Well, do they have money there? Because you owe me… forty three dollars and eighty six cents for lunch last week," she glanced at the tab she calculated daily on her PDA.

"It all comes from the same place we have one bank account, how could I owe you money?" he questioned.

She raised an eyebrow in thought for a moment, "good point."

"I will gladly pay you today if you'll answer this call for me," he begged as the phone began ringing again.

"As you just pointed out there wouldn't we a point. Why don't you answer it? Who is it?" she asked.

"Crazy ex-girlfriend, haven't seen her since college," he mumbled holding the phone up.

"She's still programmed in your phone?" she questioned again with a raised eyebrow,

"I never delete crap from my phone," he shrugged, "you know that."

"Fine. What do you want me to say to her?" she asked taking the phone from his outstretched hand.

"I don't know. Tell her the truth; she's been calling nonstop for two days. So I'm begging you here, Kate. Please," he begged pitifully.

"Two days? And I'm just now hearing about it?" she questioned even more reluctant to answer the ringing phone.

"My phone was off yesterday, remember?" he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, hinting at the Sunday they had spent in bed, which was becoming their weekly ritual.

"Okay give it to me, but I don't want your money since technically it's just as much mine, instead tonight we're going through your phone and deleting numbers," she pointed a sharp finger at him before ripping the phone from his hand.

"Hello?" she answered sweetly.

"_Hi, may I ask with whom I'm speaking?"_ the high-pitched voice asked and Kate rolled her eyes.

"Kate DiNozzo," she replied easily, sinking back into her chair as Tony dug into his food, with a grin on his face.

"_As in Anthony DiNozzo? I didn't think he was married_," she sounded totally surprised, which was a good thing, she couldn't possibly be a full on stalker if she didn't know they were married.

"The one and only, we've been married just over a month," she glanced down at her left hand with a smile until she caught Tony's face with a similar smile.

"_Oh well could you just tell him that Michelle called? I was trying to put together a group vacation, we haven't really done one since college and I thought it would be a lot of fun,_" she spoke quickly before hanging up.

"She would like for you to call her about a group vacation," Kate tossed the phone across the isle to her husband, "but she didn't bother to offer a call back number."

"Because that was just her excuse to call me," he winked, "might as well go ahead and delete that contact."

"DiNozzo, pull the case file on Lieutenant Brian McAllister," Gibbs called approaching their desks before rounding the corner.

"McAllister? We going after more treasure hunters, boss?" Tony asked turning to the filing cabinet to pull out the cold case file.

"Treasure hunters?" McGee questioned confused, turning to look at Tony.

"Before your time, Probie. McAllister disappeared two years ago, his family offered a million dollar reward to anyone who could find him," Tony informed him and Kate as well.

"I had a few friends in the Secret Service who used to work that case on the weekends," she remembered.

"It was the Holy Grail for every amateur detective on the East coast, Kate," he nodded, also remembering how many fellow agents and rookies were searching for Brian McAllister.

"So what happened?" McGee asked, turning to Gibbs.

"Nothing – cold case," Tony sighed, once again questioning Gibbs reason for pulling up the case.

"Not anymore," Gibbs pointed their attention to the TV where the anchorwoman was informing the public on the discovery of what was believed to be a clue to Brian McAllister.

b**TKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTK**/b

"Lieutenant Brian McAllister graduated Annapolis in ninety-seven, third in his class. He vanished somewhere between October fourth and the seventh, two thousand and two. No leads," Kate read from the file, riding between Gibbs and Tony on the way to Black Lake.

"Thing I don't get is why a guy worth millions would join the military in the first place," Tony commented stuffing chow mien into his mouth.

"You think money has anything to do with patriotism, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, seemingly annoyed with the younger man.

"No, I'm just saying if I were rich, you know, I would do nothing," he nodded, stuffing another bite into his mouth.

"I thought your parents were loaded?" Kate questioned, "that bis/b the only reason I married you, you know?"

"I can feel the love," he grabbed at his heart playfully, until Kate rolled her eyes, "They are," he finally nodded.

"So why do you work for the government then?" she questioned, with a raised eyebrow.

"Because they know what their son would do with the money," Gibbs smirked from behind the wheel.

"Spend it on his lovely wife?" Kate asked with a Cheshire grin.

"Of course, il mio amore, but alas I can't even get an advance on the will," he pouted, playfully.

"Hey, McGee!" Gibbs called knocking on the cab, getting the probie's attention.

"Yeah, boss?" his head peeked through the window separating the cab from the ear of the truck.

"Tell me about that private dick…Cooper?" he asked.

"Yeah. Uh… he's a former NYPD detective, works mostly for insurance companies and celebrities now. He makes a lot of money solving cases like this. Guy's a… he's kind of a cross between Columbo and Sherlock Holmes," McGee explained just before the van hit a pothole and the three in the front could hear all the equipment along with the younger agent bouncing around in the back.

"You know, we really should get a seat belt back there," Kate winced hearing McGee groan, "Hey! Tony," she smacked the hand that was inching between her thighs, it wasn't that it was completely unwelcome, but they were at work and Gibbs was sitting right next to her, "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm looking for my fork," he pouted, looking around as well as he could in the cramped space of the cab.

"Well I can guarantee you…it is not there!"

**TKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTK**

Once the car had been pulled from the lake, and all of Cooper's suspicions had been confirmed the team found themselves back in the evidence garage combing over every inch of the watery grave that had long since held the missing lieutenant.

"You know what movie this reminds me of, Kate?" Tony asked as he sketched and measured the car.

"The Wizard of Oz?" Kate asked, glancing to Abby's legs sticking out from underneath the car adorned in striped socks.

"I'll get you, my pretty!" Abby cackled from underneath the car.

"No, I meant the one they make you watch in high school. Thirty minutes of cops pulling dead teenagers out of car wrecks," he grinned.

"Oh, my god! I love those! Blood on the Highway. Drink, Drive, Die! I keep hoping they're going to release them on DVD," Abby squealed sliding out from underneath the car to smile enthusiastically at Tony.

"Yeah, me too," Tony nodded uncertainly at the Goth, whose personality was constantly boggling him.

"Yeah," Abby nodded sliding back underneath the car.

"What do we have?" Gibbs asked entering through the sliding doors.

"Ah hey boss. I found a suitcase in back; looks like he packed enough for about a weekend. Dive team will be back with the stuff from the debris field in a few hours," Tony offered, continuing to sketch the car.

"Abs?" Gibbs asked waiting for the next part of the report.

"The brake lines are corroded, but they're intact. Something's stuck. Whoa. Hey, Kate, I've got a present for you. I think it's one of your ex-boyfriends," Abby's voice echoed from underneath the car, before sliding out with a huge fish across her chest.

"It's a cold fish!" Tony laughed, getting the joke a little too well, and Kate snapped a few pictures of Abby with the fish, "Get it, Kate?" The look his wife sent him, shut him up however.

"I don't think this was an accident," McGee interrupted from his spot crouched in the open passenger door, "It's a bullet."

"McAllister was murdered," Gibbs announced.

**TKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTK**

"Lieutenant McAllister was last seen in Norfolk on a Friday. Then found three hundred miles away in Black Lake, Virginia; which would make sense if he was heading here to the McAllister Family compound in Shenandoah," Kate reported to the group, pointing out the areas on the plasma.

"So he was heading home for the weekend?" McGee asked, coming to the obvious conclusion.

"Another twenty miles and he would have made it, McGee," Kate nodded.

"DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked signaling the younger agent to pick up his wife's lead.

"McAllister's military records are spotless, Boss. I've been running background on his family; mother died in ninety three, father passed away in two thousand two… three months after the Lieutenant disappeared. The only surviving next of kin is this guy, Thomas McAllister, his younger brother," Tony nodded to the picture on the screen, "Washed out of Annapolis freshman year, arrested a bunch of times for suspected DWI and marijuana possession: never convicted.:

"Figures, the rich never are," Kate commented sarcastically.

"Even richer now, Kate. He inherited everything. He's currently the CEO of his own airline," Tony informed glancing over his info once again.

"The Good Son and the Bad Seed," McGee surmised.

"Very Biblical," Kate noted, and Tony continued about the brother and how he'd taken the news of his brother.

"Lunch!" they were momentarily interrupted by the delivery.

"Oh, thank you," Kate smiled rushing to sort the food. "I took the liberty of ordering lunch today, something healthy for once," she eyed her husband. "There you are. They're tofu veggie wraps, they're good, Tony." She informed him when he sniffed the wrap suspiciously, "Abby and I eat them all the time."

"DiNozzo, track down the bad seed. I want to know what he was doing around the time his brother disappeared," Gibbs ordered settling at his desk.

"Yeah, I already set up an interview for later this afternoon, Boss," Tony nodded going back to his own desk.

"Take Kate," Gibbs sighed, "McGee, contact Cooper, I want to know how he found that vehicle."

"So we're going to cooperate with him?" McGee asked remembering Cooper's rule about only sharing when shared with.

"No, McGee, he's going to cooperate with me," Gibbs grunted.

"I'll be right back. I'm just going to run this down to Abby. Enjoy," she nodded to all the boys.

Each of the men left took a bite of their wrap, before deciding they'd rather starve and tossing them into the trash, "she really expected us to eat that?" Gibbs asked.

"Yeah, Boss, she's been adding healthy crap to all my meals," Tony sighed, looking longingly over at the drawer of "Little Debbie's" McGee had opened, "please McGee."

"No Tony," he sighed, pulling out one brownie and closing the drawer again.

"Harsh man, have pity," Tony whined and McGee and Gibbs just rolled their eyes.

**TKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTK**

"Beyond first class? You gotta be kidding me, you might as well call it Rich Jackass Airways," Kate guffawed seeing the sign as they crossed the blacktop to Thomas McAllister's hanger.

"I think it sounds cool," Tony refuted, with a smile.

"You would," his wife smiled at him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tony asked, with another grin.

"Nothing, it's just something that you would like, that's all. Of course the fact that it implies loads of cash…"

"Oh, I get it. So because I grew up with money that somehow makes me a jackass?" he asked, with a raised eyebrow.

"No, it just leaves you with a certain mentality that's all," she grinned, "I don't marry jackasses Tony."

"What's wrong with my mentality?" he questioned again.

"Nothing, Tony, I didn't mean anything by it," she shook her head placing a leather-gloved hand against his cheek.

"Money really isn't all that important," he murmured placing a small peck on her forehead, "I'd rather have you everyday than money one day."

"Sweet talker," she mumbled, blushing and turning back to the hanger.

"All right, let's find this little twinkle toes …." Tony sighed, opening the door for her to enter ahead of him, "Hey, there," Tony called to a mechanic working a plane ahead of them, "We're looking for your boss, Thomas McAllister. Is he around?"

"You'll have to hold on a second," he sighed, glancing down at his tool box, "Could you pass me that socket wrench, please, Miss?"

"Is he even here or shall we stop by a country club or something?" Kate joked, earning a small laugh from Tony as she handed the mechanic the wrench he'd asked for.

"I'm Tom McAllister," the mechanic, climbed down from the airplane he'd been working on.

"Agents Todd, DiNozzo. NCIS," Tony introduced the two showing his badge for the man to see.

"Do you always work on your own planes, Mr. McAllister?" Kate asked.

"Whenever I can find time in my busy social schedule down at the club, Agent Todd," Tom McAllister smiled amused by the small joke she'd made.

"I'm sorry about that. I didn't…" she sighed feeling like she'd put her foot so far in her mouth, it was now lodged in her throat.

"It's fine. You would have been right a couple years ago, and please, call me Tom," he shrugged.

"Kate. So, do you own all these planes?" she asked glancing around the hanger.

"Me…and the bank. That's my new one out there, I plan on taking it for a test flight today if you're interested," Tom seemed to be flirting with Kate.

"You don't seem too broken up for a guy who just lost his brother, Tom," Tony interrupted, feeling a little like he wanted to mark his territory.

"I've known he's been dead for quite some time, Agent DiNozzo. The first week you expect a ransom note. After a month you pray. A year… you just know."

"When was the last time you talked to your brother?" Kate asked.

"About three months before the accident. Would you believe we grew up fishing at Black Lake?"

"The thing is it wasn't an accident," Tony informed quietly not wanting to upset the victim's brother.

"The Navy, they said…" Tom trailed off confused about conflicting information.

"Your brother was murdered," Tony sighed, never enjoying giving such information, but needing to see the reaction from the brother.

"Are you absolutely positive about that?" Tom asked, surprised leading the agents to believe the man wasn't responsible for killing his brother.

"He was shot on the weekend of October fourth, two thousand two. I'm sorry," Kate nodded.

"Considering his body was found dumped twenty miles from your house, we'd like to know where you were the weekend he disappeared." Tony asked, waiting for a reaction.

"Me? I was at home."

"Anyone who can verify that?" Tony asked.

"I was with my father," he nodded.

"Let me rephrase. Is there anyone who can verify that is still alive?" Tony questioned again.

"No. Are you saying you think I did it?" Thomas seemed surprised he was a suspect in his brother's murder.

"We're just following up on any leads we can, Tom," Kate tried to sooth quietly.

"Of course, whatever I can do to help," Tom nodded at the pair.

"It's quite startling that you're the one flirting," Tony teased as they settled back into the car.

"I was not," she retorted, "I was being polite as was he."

"He was picturing you naked," he argued, "trust me I've seen the look plenty of times before."

"Tony you have nothing to be worried about," she took his hand in hers, "I'm not interested."

"I know I don't have to be worried," he smirked, "I'm just teasing," he shrugged, "besides I'm pretty sure I could take him."

"Yes, I'm sure you could," she smiled indulgently, "moving on though, I don't think he had anything to do with his brother's death."

"I don't know how you got that," he shook his head, "he's had time to plan his reactions, he knew we'd figure something out eventually."

"We should probably wait for some for of evidence, before either one of us starts jumping to conclusions."

**TKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTK**

"He's not a murderer, Tony," Kate sighed as they entered headquarters still arguing over whether or not Thomas McAllister could have killed his brother, Brian.

"I'm sorry, were you using the new NCIS magical murderer detector back there?" he questioned sarcastically still.

"My gut," she returned as if using Gibbs infamous saying would get Tony to believe her.

"Ah. If you were a guy, I would say you were using--" he started until she cut him of with a pointed look and a warning finger.

"Don't even say it if you want to live!" she voiced her warning.

"What did Thomas McAllister have to say?" Gibbs asked interrupting the two.

"He hadn't heard from his brother in three months," Kate informed.

"Definitely hiding something, boss," Tony added.

"My best guess, it was grief. There's no way he's involved, Gibbs," she asserted as Abby came around the corner.

"Abs, what do you have?" Gibbs asked spotting the Goth as well.

"The last three calls that came in on the phone from the lake were all made on Friday, October fourth," Abby spoke a little hesitantly.

"Yeah?" Gibbs questioned waiting for the rest.

"And they were all from his brother, Thomas McAllister. Sorry, Kate."

**TKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTK**

"Thomas McAllister is your man, trust me!" Detective Cooper insisted hours later after they'd gone through every piece of evidence he'd sent to them.

"Kate, how is your rapport with McAllister?" Gibbs asked glancing at her.

"She's got more than a rapport, boss," Tony nodded with a smirk.

"Well, good, call him. You're having dinner with him tonight," Gibbs nodded.

"What if he says no?" Kate questioned, already reaching for her phone.

"The way he was looking at you? I think you're going to be the one saying no," Tony commented, enjoying the situation with his wife a little too much, for a man whose wife was planning to go on a date with another man.

**TKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTK**

Once Gibbs and Tony had returned from interviewing the step-mother, and getting shot at, Kate was already getting ready for her date.

"Why don't we just drag McAllister in for questioning, Boss?" Tony asked now seeing his wife dressed for a date.

"Because his lawyers make more in one hour than you make all week," Gibbs shrugged.

"That's an excellent point. So you're saying I deserve a raise?" Tony asked, until he received a look from his boss, "or not."

"We need more than circumstantial evidence to take McAllister down," Gibbs nodded.

"I agree, but what do we get out of Kate going on a date with him?" Tony asked watching his wife once again.

"I get to search his house for that Colt forty-five without him knowing," Gibbs smirked, already having his perfect plan.

"And if it turns out he's our murderer?" Tony questioned, never more unsure of this idea.

"That's why you're going with her," Gibbs nodded, settling at his desk to check his computer.

"I'm meeting him at the airport in twenty minutes, Gibbs," she informed strapping a handgun to the inside of her thigh.

"Okay, I need you to distract him for at least two hours so we can search his house," Gibbs ordered.

"Shouldn't be a problem, he already invited me to dinner. So, how do I look?" she asked standing in front of her husband's desk.

"Eh," Tony shrugged already feeling jealous that she'd dressed up for this guy, she hadn't really dressed up for him since the night they'd gotten engaged. Of course he'd traded one form of dressing up for another her lingerie selection had never been so bountiful.

"What do you mean, eh?" she asked glancing down at her dress.

"I mean… yeah, you look fine. What's wrong with fine?" he questioned, glancing back down at his paperwork.

"I'm going for hot here, Tony," she pouted, "don't tell me we're already an old married couple."

"I don't know about the old part, but…." He trailed off when he saw the look she was giving him, "let me give it a try?" he asked moving to stand in front of her and began mussing her hair.

"Boss, I got the search warrant," McGee announced rounding the corner.

"You're with me. Get your things," Gibbs called, just as Tony was finishing with his 'makeover'.

"Yeah, now that…that is hot," he smirked, loving that she looked as if she'd just had a roll in the hay.

"Are you two done playing dress-up?" Gibbs asked eying the couple before ushering McGee toward the elevator.

"Done," husband and wife replied in unison, moving to desks to gather their coats.

"All right, get moving. I want a com check in fifteen minutes," Gibbs ordered before following McGee.

"On it," Kate nodded.

"Hey Kate, you looked better the other way," Gibbs called just before he got on the elevator.

"You realize," Kate started as they climbed in the car and she began setting up the communication equipment while Tony drove, "that making me look like I've just had a heavy make-out session doesn't get everyone turned on right?"

"Does it for me," he shrugged, "in fact, I enjoy making you look that way and then everything afterward."

"Yes, I'm sure it does," she shook her head, "here," she handed him the radio, and then pulled her rings from her finger, "and here."

"Ooh, already ditching the rings?" he questioned as if having been burned.

"Just temporarily," she shrugged glancing at the hanger through the windshield and then turning to him again, "okay, I'll see you in about two hours?"

"I'll be here, listening along."

"How do you read me, Kate?" Tony asked into the radio watching as she opened the door to the hanger, "Say again?" he asked when he barely heard a mumbled answer, but could see her in the door way after turning to blow an air kiss.

"I said loud and clear," she returned.

"Slide the mic closer to your throat, please," he requested.

"How's that?" Kate asked after adjusting her necklace.

"Crystal," Tony returned.

Tony was never happier to hear from Gibbs, and he quickly made his way inside the hanger to arrest his wife's date.

"You thought it was an accident?" Tony could hear Kate ask as he rounded a plane and they came into view.

"Until you told me he was murdered. Only one person stood to gain from his death, Selena Lockhart," Thomas gave his point of view on the murder.

"Unfortunately, there is one more," Kate pulled the contract Cooper had found from her bag, handing it to Tom.

"He never would have signed this," Tom sighed seeing the form he'd drawn up for his brother to sign.

"Thomas McAllister, you're under arrest for the murder of your brother," Tony interrupted, hand on gun in case he decided to make a move.

"So I guess dessert is out of the question?" Tom asked glancing at Kate as Tony began cuffing him.

"Sorry," Kate shrugged, "Gibbs found something?"

"Yeah," Tony nodded leading the way, with Tom, to the car, "read him his rights?"

"Yeah," she sighed, settling in the front seat and listing the list of rights Thomas McAllister had, while Tony turned the car back to headquarters.

**TKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTK**

Tony was surprised to see Kate enter the interrogation room with Gibbs, and was even more surprised when Gibbs let the man go. Kate leaned in the door of observation to tell Tony that she was going to escort Tom back up to headquarters to give his personal affects back, but that he should hang around.

"Sorry Probie," Tony sighed watching as McGee he lost his hero when the liquid turned blue proving there was gun powder on Cooper's trench coat.

"McGee, process Cooper, Tony get out of here," he motioned over his shoulder, turning to the tech to collect all the required film he'd need for the file.

Tony smiled as he pulled the rings from his pinky once he was in the elevator, he needed to get those back to his wife, and maybe he could pout his way into a quick trip home and a long night in bed, after all she was on a date with another man.

"You up for that dessert now?" Thomas asked from across her desk and she shook her head, thinking she could divert the attention.

"At two thirty in the morning?" she questioned, heading toward the elevator, hoping to catch Tony so they could get home.

"I think I might know a place that's still open," he shrugged.

"I'm sorry Tom, I wasn't completely honest with you earlier…" she sighed and the elevator doors opened and there stood her husband.

"Just the woman I was looking for," he smiled pulling her left hand up and sliding both her engagement and wedding rings back onto her hand.

"Oh," Tom sighed, "guess that really is a no on dessert than?"

"Sorry," Tony smirked, dropping an arm over his wife's shoulder and bidding Tom a farewell.

"That was a little rude Tony," Kate sighed, following him back to his desk for him to get his coat.

"You're too sensitive to other's feelings," he grunted, "Let's go."

"I just don't like to be mean," she returned.

"I'm not mean," he answered a little too quickly and a little too sharp, "sorry—no, come here," he pulled her back when she tried to get on the elevator without speaking to him, "I'm sorry."

"Ton--"

"It's not my ideal job, to listen to another guy try to woo you," he shrugged, "so I'm sorry, I guess I got a little jealous."

"You're forgiven," she finally answered after a few minutes of crucial studying, "But next time you can at least pretend to be polite."

"Next time you go on a date with another man I promise I'll be polite," he laughed, with a shake of his head pulling her into the elevator with him.

"You're funny."


End file.
